Railroad-switch.



' No. 664,l78. Patented Dec. l8, I900. S. S. SHIELDS RAILROAD SWITCH.

(Application filed May 31, 1900.)

(No Model.) A

SANFORD S. SHIELDS,

OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,178, dated December 18, 1966.

Application filed May 31,1900.

T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SANFORD S. SHIELDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at O0- lumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Switches; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the class of switchoperating devices in which the switch-rails and a frog are operated simultaneously. An illustration of this sort of switch can be seen in the United States patent of Smith and Chapman, dated April 17, 1900, No. 647,885. In such switches it is important that the frog portion be looked after it is thrown from one position to the other.

It is therefore the object of my present invention to provide means for locking the frog and to operate such means contemporaneously and automatically with the throwing of the switch.

In the accompanying drawings, showing an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of a switch and switch-operating devices with vmy improvement added. Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken ona vertical plane indicated by the liner/v00, Fig. 1,and looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 3

v is a perspective view of the frog-locking piece or key. Fige is a perspective view illustrating the connection between the frog-rod and the main operating rock-shaft; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken in a vertical plane indicated by the line y y, Fig. l, and looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

In the several views, 1 designates the movable switch-points, and 2 the frog-point.

3 designates the main operating rock-shaft, having cranks, to which are attached rods 4 and 4* for operating the switch-points and frog, respectively; but the rod 4* is furnished with a slotted end 4:", (see Fig. 4,) so that the main shaft can be slightly rocked in either direction before it acts on the rod 4* to move the frog. Arranged horizontally between the intermediate sections of the main and siding rails is a bell-crank lever 5, to one arm of which is attached one end of a link-rod 6, and

Serial No. 18,528. (No model.)

to the other end of this rod is attached the frog-locking key 7. To the other arm of the bell-crank 5 is attached a rod 8, having its outer end hinged to a link 9, thatis hinged at its outer end to a crank 10, fixed on the main operating-shaft 3. The parts are shown to be so proportioned and connected that when the crank 10 stands vertically down the frog2 is in the open-main-track position and when the crank stands vertically up the frogpoint stands in the open-siding position, as can be understood from Figs. 1 and 5. A weighted lever-arm 11 is attached to the main operating-shaft 3, by means of which lever that shaft can be turned or rocked a half-rotation. When the main operating-shaft is so thrown in either direction, the key 7 is drawn out from and then thrown back or inserted between the point of the frog and the opposite stationary part of the main or siding rail, as the case may be. The slot in the end of the rod 4 allows the complete withdrawal of the key before any movement of the frogpoint is effected. This key securely locks the frog-point and stiffens the track thereat. The key also incidentally serves as a footguard to prevent the catching of the feet of trackmen and trainmen walking on the road. What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. In a railroad-switch, a movable frogpoint, and movable key for locking the same, combined with rock-shaft, a slotted rod 4* connecting the rock-shaft and frog,and means intermediate of the rock-shaft and key for withdrawing the key from one side of the frog and inserting it at the other when the frog is shifted from main-track to siding position and from siding position to main-track position, substantially as described.

2. In a railroad-switch,.the combination of a shaft 3, a frog 2, and a locking-key 7 for said frog, a slotted rod 4; connecting the frog and shaft 3, and a rod 6, bell-crank 5 rod 8 and link 9 connecting the key 7 with said shaft 3, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' SANFORD S. SHIELDS.

Witnesses:

PERRY A. RoAoH, O. P. COLLINS. 

